Friday, 10 April 2015

Archbishop
Thabo Makgoba called on Friday for the energy behind
campaigns for the removal of colonial and apartheid-era statues to be harnessed "into rigorous self-examination
and action to expand the current campaigns into a creative,
society-wide drive for real transformation."

He was responding in Cape Town to the removal of a statue of the British colonial politician and empire-builder, Cecil John Rhodes, from a central position on the campus of the University of Cape Town. Its removal followed a vigorous student-led campaign which became defined by its Twitter hashtag, #RhodesMustFall.

Archbishop Thabo said in a statement:

"The
campaign against symbols of the injustice of our past, along with
service delivery protests and public outrage over corruption, reflect
the anger of South Africans at the inequalities that continue to plague
us.

"From students to unemployed youth on the streets, from the
middle-classes to women struggling to make ends meet in township homes,
South Africans are tired of our collective failure to improve all our
people's lives for the better.

"We must harness the energy being
poured into protest into rigorous self-examination and action to expand
the current campaigns into a creative, society-wide drive for real
transformation.

"The churches, along with government, business and
educational institutions, must all join this, the new struggle for
equality of opportunity."